Texel is an island with four types of landscape: dunes and beaches in the west, flatland, polders, in the east and hilly in the center, the remains of the ice age. A fourth type is inland wetlands with beautiful walking trails in the center west coast of the island, like The Slufter. Along the wadden-coast in the east there are comparable smaller Wetlands. In the dunes valleys like The Muy are quite popular by tourists.

Both tourists and birds are abundant. The tourist mostly in the summer.

The islanders call their hilly area the Hoge Berg ("High Mountain"). Its highest point is about 15 meters above sea level and gives a fabulous view over the island. It's not the summit of the island. The dune Loodsmansduin in the south reaches 30 meters above sea level. Originally, the locals speak their own dialect, known as "Tessels". Nowadays it's dying out and to be replaced by a more Standard-Dutch tongue, altough still with specific words and accents. The inhabitant have their own name for the mainland: de Overkant, litterally "the Other Side".

The official name is Texel. The x in it is normally pronounced as ss, so the name sounds like "Tessel". In Standard-Dutch, the correct pronunciation is Tessel, but a great lot of the Dutchmen will pronounce it with an x-sound. The locals however always pronounce "Tessel".